CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu requires more than Rs 2 lakh crore in investments across the value chain of power generation, transmission, storage and distribution over the next five to seven years, said Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji during the second Group of Ministers’ meeting of state electricity ministers held by the centre in Mumbai on Thursday.
He said the financial health of discoms needs serious attention with combined support from state and central governments. “A comprehensive scheme for debt restructuring of discoms needs to be devised,” he said.
The burden of debt take-over must be shared between the states and centre. The scheme may be linked to financial reforms to ensure the discoms’ accountability and prevent further debt accumulation, he added.
Pointing out that the 16th Finance Commission is finalising the country’s public finance landscape for the next five years, he urged the need for all states to press for dedicated grants for the power sector. He requested the centre to sanction Rs 3,200 crore for system modernisation under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme.